Paranthropus boisei had human-like hand proportions but its wrist lacked the highly adaptive structure found in Neanderthals and later humans, while its grasp was powerful and gorilla-like.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by peer-reviewed Nature paper (Mongle et al. 2025) plus independent corroboration from Stony Brook University press release, CNN, and Archaeology News Online Magazine, all consistent on hand proportions, wrist morphology, and gorilla-like grasp. [tier=gold indep_score=0.963 clusters=4 claim_tier=notable]
Sources
- Discovery of First Fossil Hand Linked to P. Boisei Suggests ... (seed:science_and_space)
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09594-8 (corroboration)
- https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/15/science/fossil-kenya-extinct-human-hand (corroboration)
- https://news.stonybrook.edu/newsroom/new-fossil-of-an-ancient-human-relative-shows-it-could-grip-and-had-surprising-dexterity/ (corroboration)
- https://archaeologymag.com/2025/10/paranthropus-boisei-had-human-like-grip/ (corroboration)